Excessive force not S.O.P. for Blackwater, ex-boss says

Sunday

Jan 30, 2011 at 12:01 AMJan 30, 2011 at 12:16 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. - The former president of the security firm Blackwater has denied in sworn testimony that the company's contractors regularly used excessive force or that officials falsified travel documents.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The former president of the security firm Blackwater has denied in sworn testimony that the company’s contractors regularly used excessive force or that officials falsified travel documents.

Gary Jackson said in a December deposition for a lawsuit that he thinks both claims are false.

Two former Blackwater employees, Brad and Melan Davis, have accused the company’s workers of using extreme force and improperly billing for travel costs.

Blackwater has since changed its name to Xe.

Jackson declined to answer several questions during the deposition, exercising his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. Jackson’s attorneys advised him to do so when questions came close to the scope of a criminal case against him.

A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted Jackson and others last year on weapons charges.

Brad Davis contended in court documents that he witnessed contractors using unjustified force to “kill or seriously injure innocent Iraqi civilians.” He said the workers did not stop to see whether the civilians had been hurt or killed.

Susan Burke, an attorney for the Davises, asked Jackson whether the company repeatedly used excessive force.

“My belief is that it is an absolute falsehood,” Jackson said, according to the deposition posted on the website of Burke’s law firm. Jackson left the job as president of the company in late 2008.

Asked about whether travel documents were falsified, Jackson offered a similar answer: “My belief is that it is completely incorrect.”

Attorneys did not question Jackson at all about the more salacious allegations in the federal lawsuit, filed in Virginia. The lawsuit claims that Blackwater sought reimbursement for a prostitute for workers in Afghanistan and strippers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.